If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

The novel uses a structure in which the main chapters are punctuated, or interrupted, by 10 separate stories and diary entries. Thus, the narrator of the main story is one of the few constant features in the shifting, changing text. The narrator immediately forms a bond with the audience, addressing them from the opening sentence by describing their actions. The Reader, the narrator says, is about to read If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino. The statement is a self-fulfilling prophecy, in which the only way an audience could read the words is if, as the narrator states, they’re about to read If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino. From there, the narrator (presumably Calvino) familiarizes himself with the audience by telling them to get comfortable and enjoy the novel. This direct, familiar address is atypical for a novel, which further suggests that the narrator is a character more than just a literary device. Rather than being just a means to convey the story to the audience, the narrator fosters a bond of empathy and understanding with the Reader (and, by extension, the audience) from the opening sentence. The familiar presence of this narrator amid the changing, unconventional narrative becomes a beacon of understanding as the structure and themes of the novel become increasingly abstract.

The narrator’s role diffuses each time the novel breaks for an interjected story. In these stories, a new narrator takes over. Similarly, in the diary of Silas Flannery, the author narrates from a first person perspective. The narrator’s nameless status bolsters this sense of universality. Although the narrator is presumably Calvino, the narrator mentions Calvino by name without suggesting or denying that he is, in fact, Calvino. The narrator shares many characteristics with the narrators of the interjected novels. These fellow narrators are young, male, and heterosexual to the point that their pursuit of women (either successful or unsuccessful) becomes a defining point of their narration. The commonality of the narration is a motif throughout the novel, with each story (the main chapters and the interjected stories) and Flannery’s diary using first-person narrators. This suggests a commonality between the narrators; they aren’t detached, omniscient third-person storytellers but characters in their own right. Whether they’re named Ruedi the Swiss, Gritzvi, or simply a universal first-person pronoun, the diffuse narrators are united by the act of narrating, just like the Reader and Ludmilla are united by the act of reading. These various narrators are part of a unified archetype, providing a literary function that recurs across time, space, and different texts.

The narrator’s function in the novel is to interrogate the act of reading. In a sense, the narrator is the lens through which the novel’s story unfolds to the audience. Since the narrator strives to establish himself as a character, his narration is fundamentally subjective. He enjoys reading literature, as clear in his empathy for the Reader’s having to endure constant interruptions. This subjectivity, coupled with the similarities and differences from the other subjective narrators, emphasizes the subjectivity of existence. Even among the narrators, no single, unified voice exists, mirroring the lack of a single, unified experience of existence. Subjectivity is evident in the act of reading in that all participants, from the reader to the narrator, must examine how their prior experiences influence their reading of a text. Thus, the narrator’s character becomes a postmodern exploration of the inherent subjectivity of literature and the world.

The counterpart to the protagonist of If on a winter’s night a traveler is Ludmilla. If the protagonist is the Reader, then Ludmilla is the Other Reader. She appears throughout the novel, both as herself and as a recurring archetype of women who serve a similar literary function. Even in the interjected stories, the protagonist often encounters a female romantic interest who shares many of Ludmilla’s traits. Foremost among Ludmilla’s traits is her interest in reading. Even more than the Reader, she’s fascinated by literature. This fascination makes the Reader feel embarrassed, as their first conversation demonstrates. Ludmilla interrogates the Reader via literary opinions that demonstrate both how much she loves to read and how much more she knows about the world of books compared to the Reader. At home, her apartment is dominated by books. Her physical living space is shaped by her love of literature: Books cover every surface. This love of books is innately ironic: As the protagonist’s love interest, Ludmilla seems to love her books far more than she loves the Reader. Even when they have sex, her physical love is expressed through her ability to read the Reader’s body as though it were another text. In this sense, her role as the romantic interest has an ironically abstract quality. She isn’t just in love with the Reader; she’s in love with the idea of reading.

In addition, the text defines Ludmilla’s character in opposition to those around her. Irnerio is her neighbor and friend. He claims not to read, himself, but frequently enters Ludmilla’s home to take books to use in his art projects. He uses books as physical objects to make art, while Ludmilla consumes a book’s intellectual content and then disposes of the physical object. Similarly, her sister, Lotaria, represents an academic interest in literature that contrasts with Ludmilla’s more naturalistic approach to novels. Lotaria sees novels as fodder for her academic discussions, only selecting those that will further her intellectual arguments and choosing to analyze novels using computers. In contrast, Ludmilla loathes the idea of starting a book that she knows will end in a certain fashion or reading a book whose author she has personally met. More explicitly, Ludmilla contrasts with her former lover, Marana, who runs a fraudulent translation conspiracy that only enriches him. Ludmilla cares about books rather than money, while Marana cares only about money. Given Ludmilla’s evasive personality, these contrasts are important tools in defining her character. As the audience—represented by you, the Reader—attempts to understand her better, the text reveals the contours of her personality only through their similarities and contrasts to those around her. Ludmilla is a work of comparative literature whose true character emerges in the context of the novel’s other characters.